Chasing Wilder in Chicago

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary:

Thornton Wilder's The Eighth Day

Thornton Wilder (Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, Class of 2013) persists as one of the great American playwrights of the 20th century. Our Town is so universally known and revered that it tends to overshadow Wilder's other accomplishments, which were many and varied. The Eighth Day is high on that list of accomplishments. This novel, revolving around a murder in southern Illinois and partially set in Chicago, won the National Book Award in 1968. A new edition is being released, which is occasion enough to discover or rediscover this literary masterpiece.

On Wednesday, Nov. 15, the Newberry Library will host a celebration of The Eighth Day, replete with cake and other goodies, drinks, actors, scholars, and a gorgeous setting. The reception begins and five, with the program starting at six, and it is free and open to the public. You must, however, register to attend.

Participants include:

• Tappan Wilder, Thornton Wilder’s nephew and literary executor, and Honorary Chairman of the Thornton Wilder Society

• Jeremy McCarter, author of Young Radicals: In the War for American Ideals and co-author with Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton: The Revolution, has written about culture and politics for New York Magazine, Newsweek, and the New York Times.

• Liesl Olson, Director of the Chicago Studies program at the Newberry Library, is author of Chicago Renaissance: Literature and Art in the Midwest Metropolis, Modernism and the Ordinary, and many essays about twentieth-century writers and artists.

• Actors from the Chicago theater community, performing readings from The Eighth Day.

Presented in Cooperation with The Thornton Wilder Family.

Register online here by 3 pm Wednesday, November 15, 2017.

Doors open half an hour before the program begins, with first-come, first-served seating for registered attendees. If seats remain available, non-registered individuals will be permitted to enter about ten minutes before the event’s start. Questions? Contact publicprograms@newberry.org or 312-255-3610.